Shelving assembly



Oct. 11, 1966 H. J. BRUCKER SHELVING ASSEMBLY 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 19, 1965 20 INVENTOR. fi/m acker M g ATTORNEY @ct. 11, 1966 H. J. BRUCKER 3,278,149

SHELVING ASSEMBLY Filed Feb. 19, 1965 2 sheets-Sheet 3 mum iiHilHHiHilJhmmggmmm 24 z/ INVENTOR.

[fen/y of gauge ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,278,149 SHELVIN G ASSEMBLY Henry J. Brucker, Summit, NJ, assignor to American Aluminum Company, Mountainside, N..I., a corporation of New Jersey Filed Feb. 19, 1965, Ser. No. 433,942 10 (Claims. (Cl. 248--23) This invention relates to the art of shelving, and is concerned in particular with means for mounting shelves, bulkheads, partitions, flooring and the like.

The achievement of maximum efiiciency on the use of storage space often necessitates installation of extra and irregularly spaced deck flooring, partitions, and various other types of supports, all of which must be capable of ready installation, change, and removal to accommodate diflerent types of stock.

The prior art has sought to meet these requirements by utilizing channel members or tracks attached to the walls of the storage chamber and provided with series of longitudinally spaced openings adapted to receive and mount detachable hangers of the pocket type that support the ends of beams, bars, floor joists and the like. The mounting and removal of the hangers presents difficulties that militate against ease of handling and efliciency of attachment.

The present invention provides a novel assembly of hanger bracket and support therefor by which a hanger may be easily and quickly mounted in the support by a single movement of insertion and rotation that is automatically stopped when the hanger is in its proper service position.

The invention provides also a novel support structure and a novel hanger structure which coacts in a manner enabling a far greater range of hanger location and directional variation than is possible in the prior are of which I am aware.

Other and incidental objects will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of a storage chamber illustrating the components of the present invention and their use.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating a service assembly of hanger bracket and support of the present invention in vertical disposition.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating an assembly of the hanger bracket and support in horizontal disposition.

FIG. 4 is a rear elevation, partly broken, of the hanger bracket.

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view of the assembly of FIG. 4 with the hanger bracket in elevation and inverted to show the manner in which it is mounted in the support.

FIG. 6 is a rear elevation of the structure shown in FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a vertical sectional view of the structure shown in FIG. 3.

FIG. 8 is a rear elevation of the assembly shown in FIG. 3.

The components of the present invention comprise a support denominated generally as 10 and a hanger bracket denominated generally as 11. Any desired number of supports and brackets may be employed, and in any directional disposition best suited to the available space and location requirements of the chamber in which they are used.

In the illustrative, but not restrictive, herein disclosed embodiment of the invention the structures of the support and hanger bracket are as follows:

THE SUPPORT The support 10 is a member or wall having a flat facing 12 at the interior of a storage chamber designated generally at 15 in FIG. 1. The facing 12 is provided with a series of spaced circular apertures 16 of equal diameter spaced apart in a straight row and in which the hanger brackets 11 are adapted to be mounted at selected locations.

At each hanger receiving aperture 16 the facing 12 is formed with a notch 17 opening radially into the aperture. The material of the facing displaced by formation of the notch is pressed inwardly at the base of the notch to extend inwardly of the facing substantially perpendicular thereto as a lug 18 constituting a stop against which an element (later described) of the hanger bracket abuts to dispose the hanger in service position when it is mounted in the facing. The depth of the notch is such that the resultant stop lug I8 is spaced radially outward from the peripheral edge of its associated aperture.

An important feature of the invention is the fact that the radial of each hanger mounting aperture in which bisects its lug I8 is at an angle of substantially forty-five degrees with respect to a plane passed through the center of the aperture normal to the longitudinal axis of the series of apertures of which it is a part. This arrangement holds true for any quadrant in which the notch 17 and lug 18 are located. In the specific embodiment of the invention disclosed herein the notch and lug are in the first quadrant, reading clockwise, but may be otherwise than as shown.

THE HANGER BRACKET The hanger bracket 11 is a pocket hanger open at its top and front, with parallel side walls 19 perpendicular to a flat bottom 20 and rear wall 21. The rear Wall is provided with a pair of outwardly directed integral flanges 22 extending from its rear face in parallel relation vertically over substantially the upper half portion of the wall midway between the side walls 19. As best shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the rear end portions of the flanges 22 are spaced rearwardly from the hanger rear wall 21 a distance slightly greater than the thickness of the wall, with their midportions spaced apart a distance substantially equal to the width of a notch lug 18. At their bottom the flange end portions 22 are in abutting face contact and together constitute a lug 23. The upper ends of the flange end portions 22 are upwardly divergent at an inclination of substantially forty-five degrees relative to the vertical meridian of the hanger rear wall, and constitute fingers 24 adapted to abut a lug 18 of the facing It), as shown in FIG. 8. The length of the flange end portions 22 from the extremity of bottom lug 23 to the extremity of fingers Z4 is greater than the diameter of any facing aperture 16, so that when a hanger is fully mounted in an aperture, as shown in FIG. 7, its lug 23 and fingers 24 will extend radially beyond the periphery of the associated aperture and will overlie the rear surface of the support facing marginal to the peripheral edge of the aperture, thus securing the hanger in service position on the track.

The relative directional and dimensional relationship of the hanger fingers 24 and the notch lugs I8 is such that when a finger 24 seats against a lug 18, as shown in FIG. 8, the hanger bracket will be in true vertical position to receive and support an end of a deck platform joist or bar 25 as shown in FIG. 1.

It will be seen from FIGS. 5 and 6 that the hanger lug 23 is of a size such that it may pass easily through any aperture notch 1'7 when in registry therewith. Due to the spacing and divergence of the hanger fingers 24 they cannot in any position of the hanger be made to pass through any aperture notch.

THE ASSEMBLY When a hanger bracket 11 is mounted in a supporting horizontal or vertical facing it] it is inverted, whereupon the divergent hanger fingers may easily be inserted through a selected aperture as seen in FIG. 5. The hanger lug 23 is then aligned with and passed inwardly through the associated support facing notch 17, as shown in FIG. 6, so that the rear wall of the hanger seats flatly against the outer face of the support with the hanger fingers 24 and lug 23 disposed entirely at the rear thereof. Thereafter the hanger is rotated to move the lug 23 out of registry with the notch, whereupon the hanger fingers override the inner surface of the track support and prevent separation of the hanger from the support until the lug 23 and the notch are again in registry.

In order to bring the inverted hanger into service position it is, if in a vertical series, rotated clockwise until its right hand finger 24 abuts the stop lug 18, whereupon the hanger will be positioned as shown in FIG. 2. If the mounting is in a horizontal series the inverted hanger is rotated counter clockwise until its left hand finger 24 abuts the stop lug, whereupon the hanger will be positioned as shown in FIG. 3.

With the present invention additional hangers may be installed in series diagonally at an angle such that when the hanger is in service position the longitudinal axis of the channel track is inclined relative to the longitudinal axis of the series. For example: The vertical series shown in FIG. 1 may be inclined to the left so that the notch 17 occupies a new position to the left, giving somewhat the effect shown in FIG. 3 but at an incline to the vertical instead of being horizontal. In such case the service position of the hanger will be determined by engagement of its left hand finger 24 against the lug 18. A series of hangers when so mounted will have a stair step effect.

It will be apparent, therefore, that the spacing of the fingers 24 will determine the extent to which the series may be inclined and still support the hangers individually in their vertical service positions.

It is to be understood that the herein disclosed embodiment of my invent-ion is illustrative of a practical example and that the invention is not restricted thereto. It may comprise and structure falling within the scope of the invention as claimed. Although the support member is illustrated in the drawings as a channel member mounted on a wall of the storage chamber 15, it could be the wall itself, with the apertures 16 therethrough.

I claim:

1. A shelving assembly comprising, in combination: a support member having therein a circular aperture and a radial notch opening therefrom; a pocket type hanger having a rear wall adapted to seat against the outer face of the support member; hanger securing means on the rear wall of the hanger insertible through the aperture and notch of the support member in a first position of the hanger; and said hanger being rotatable in the support member aperture to a service position preventing withdrawal of said securing means until the hanger is returned to said first position.

2. In the assembly of claim 1, abutment means on the inner face of the support member and engageable by the hanger securing means to hold the hanger in its service position.

3. A shelving assembly comprising, in combination: a support member having a flat face provided with a circular aperture and a notch extending radially therefrom; a hanger open at its top and front and having a bottom, parallel side walls, and a flat rear wall; a flange structure extending rearwardly from the rear wall of the hanger for insertion through said support aperture and having an enlarged rear end portion of an overall length greater than the diameter of the aperture, one extremity of the flange structure being of a size to pass through the radial notch when aligned therewith; and the body of the support member having thereon an inwardly extending lug providing an abutment engageable by the other extremity of said flange structure to dispose the hanger in service position.

4. In the assembly of claim 3, said flange structure being a pair of parallel flanges in face contact at the extremity that is passable through the radial notch and in spaced divergent relation at the other extremity.

5. In the assembly of claim 4, said abutment lug on the body of the support member being at the base of the aperture notch.

6. A shelving assembly unit comprising a support member having a flat outer face provided with a series of identical, spaced, circular apertures spaced apart in a straight row each having a radial notch opening therefrom in the support member, all of said notches extending in the same direction each at an angle of substantially forty-five degrees with respect to a plane passed through the center of the corresponding support aperture normal to the longitudinal axis of the series.

7. In the unit of claim 6, an inwardly extending lug on the rear of the support member at the base of each notch.

8. A shelving hanger comprising a pocket hanger open at its top and front and having a bottom, parallel side walls and a flat rear wall, a pair of parallel flanges extending rearwardly from said rear wall in face contact at their lower end portions, and the upper end portions of the flanges being spaced apart and extending above the top of the hanger rear wall.

9. In the hanger of claim 8, said upper end portions of the flanges being upwardly divergent above the top of the hanger rear wall.

10. A shelving assembly comprising, in combination: a support member having a flat front face and a fiat rear face and provided with a circular aperture and a notch extending radially therefrom; a hanger open at its top and front and having a bottom wall, parallel side walls, and a flat rear wall; a flange structure extending rearwardly from the rear Wall of the hanger for insertion through said support aperture and having an enlarged rear end portion of an overall length greater than the diameter of the aperture, both extremities of said rear end portion being spaced from the plane of said rear wall, one extremity of said rear end portion extending above the top of said rear wall and the other extremity of said rear portion being of a size to pass through said radial notch when in alignment therewith so that upon insertion of said extremities through said aperture with the second-mentioned extremity passed through said notch followed by rotation of said hanger in said aperture, both of said extremities will abut said rear face of said support member, and said flat rear wall of said hanger will abut the front face of the support member, to thereby secure the hanger on said support member.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 693,127 2/1902 Gardner et al. 248-243 717,316 12/1902 Avery 248-251 X 1,140,940 5/1915 Bales 248-243 2,157,309 5/1939 Swedman et al 248-243 2,467,681 4/ 1949 McKinney -369 X 2,528,358 10/ 1 950 Grass 248-251 2,657,894 11/1953 Sklenar 248-239 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,198,814 6/1959 France.

CLAUDE A. LE ROY, Primary Examiner, 

1. A SHELVING ASSEMBLY COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION: A SUPPORT MEMBER HAVING THEREIN A CIRCULAR APERTURE AND A RADIAL NOTCH OPENING THEREFROM; A POCKET TYPE HANGER HAVING A REAR WALL ADAPTED TO SEAT AGAINST THE OUTER FACE OF THE SUPPORT MEMBER; HANGER SECURING MEANS ON THE REAR WALL OF THE HANGER INSERTIBLE THROUGH THE APERTURE AND NOTCH OF THE SUPPORT MEMBER IN A FIRST POSITION OF THE HANGER; AND SAID HANGER BEING ROTATABLE IN THE SUPPORT MEMBER APERTURE TO A SERVICE POSITION PREVENTING WITHDRAWAL OF SAID SECURING MEANS UNTIL THE HANGER IS RETURNED TO SAID FIRST POSITION. 